To Be Each Other
by Don't Touch Me I'm Feeling
Summary: She did not expect to wake up the next morning in Natsu's body, nor him in hers. But don't worry, they could temporarily switch back by...doing what now?


_**xX To Be Each Other Xx**_

 ** _Xx Chapter 1: In Which There Is Switching xX_**

* * *

When Lucy returned home from their mission, she didn't expect to see a red rune wrapped around the skin of her thigh.

It made her nervous, for she didn't know when or how she got it, nor what it did.

She chose to wear pants over her usual shorts or skirts this time around. The location of their target was in a swamp-like environment, and Lucy hadn't felt like slapping mosquitoes off of her legs in favor of a cute outfit. Because of this decision, she hadn't seen the rune make its way onto her leg until she went to take a bath.

In all her towel glory, there was clearly red inscriptions on her pale thigh, which stuck out like a sore thumb.

"What the heck?" Lucy said, leaning down to inspect the rune closer. Her small fingers ghosted over the characters curiously. "When did you get there?" she asked quietly.

Their mission was simple: defeat the rune mage hiding out in the swamp temple. Easy, and because it was so easy, only Lucy, Natsu and Happy had went, and they left Gray, Erza, Wendy and Charle to their own devices, promising to return safe and sound.

Natsu had been very excited about the mission, and his excitement was contagious, making Lucy just as excited to get the mission over with and done so she could receive her rent money for the month.

All of the boring stuff aside, they had defeated the mage with relative ease, only gaining very few bruises, much to the blonde's relief. He had mostly used his magic to trap them in random positions and places, not really hurting them, which Lucy found odd. She also found it odd that he seemed to think they were a couple. Because really? Did she and Natsu seem like a couple?

No. They did not, which was why Lucy found everything he was spouting about young love weird. Especially since he couldn't have been no more than twenty-three.

But whatever. What was more important was the rune flashing angrily on her skin.

"Jeez, Lucy! Get out of the bathroom already! I have to piss!" Lucy heard Natsu yell from her bedroom.

"Piss outside! I'm a little busy here!" she shouted back at him, poking her thigh.

"I can't! I'd piss on random people taking a walk!"

"You don't mind pissing on squirrels in forests."

"Hey, that's not my fault! For some reason they're really curious about pee."

"That's nasty."

Lucy sighed and tossed on her night clothes, which consisted of white shorts and a pink tank top. She nearly walked right into Natsu when she exited the bathroom. The blonde jumped and put a hand over her heart, trying to force it to slow down, to no avail.

"You alright?" the dragon slayer asked, tilting his head slightly in question. Lucy gestured to her thigh.

"I think that mage cursed me..." she said quietly, lifting her leg slightly as Natsu dropped to a crouch to get a closer look. She should've been more worried about the situation, but to be honest, she couldn't find it in her to be scared. The 'curse' or whatever hadn't taken effect yet, and she'd been home for hours. Since it had yet to make her chest squeeze in pain or make her body burn, Lucy found it hard to be seriously concerned about the magic placed on her leg.

She was a little apprehensive of course, but she wasn't too worried.

It was probably something stupid like bad luck anyway.

Natsu slapped her thigh lightly, causing her to flick his forehead. "When'd you get it" he asked, ignoring the threat and poking her thigh.

"I don't know. Some time during the battle, of course," Lucy answered, watching as Natsu grabbed her leg and pulled it up higher, seeing the rune wrap all the way around from beginning symbol to end. Lucy blushed lightly, and flailed when he pulled her forward with a mischievous grin. Her palms slapped onto the wall behind her to keep her steady, and she glared at him, swiping at his head. He dodged with ease and stood up straight.

"You feel okay?" he asked, seriously. Which was a surprise considering Natsu was never serious.

"I feel fine. I don't think it's anything big," the celestial mage answered, looking at the rune again. "I would've been in serious pain if it was major. It either hasn't taken effect yet, or it's meant to be a pretty cool looking tattoo."

"You'll get it checked out by Levy or Freed when we get to the guild tomorrow, right?" He looked really concerned, and Lucy had to smile at his thoughtfulness. He may have been a dense idiot at times, but he really did care for his comrades. She reached up and rubbed his head, messing up his spikes and splitting them into...even more spikes.

"I promise. Once again, it's probably nothing, but this color doesn't go with the outfits I usually wear." Natsu rolled his eyes, but Lucy could see a small smile kicking up at the corners of his mouth. She smiled and pat his chest lightly, making her way to her fluffy bed. "Spending the night?" she asked.

"Why would I go home? It smells better here."

The blonde shook her head with a smile. "Maybe if you'd clean your house, it would smell better?"

"Nah. It doesn't have that smell that I like."

"What smell is that?"

"Dunno. Smells like you though."

Lucy blushed and flipped the covers over her head as Natsu slammed the door to her bathroom shut loudly, unnecessarily. How could he be so oblivious to his subtle compliments? Were they even compliments? Did he even know they were probably compliments? Did he even know they were subtle?

Probably not, and that's why Lucy threw that train out the window before it could get even longer.

Closing her eyes, she forced herself into a dreamless sleep with warm cheeks.  
...

Natsu stared at Lucy through brown eyes.

Lucy stared at Natsu through onyx eyes.

Natsu twisted his long, blonde hair.

Lucy felt her short, pink spikes.

Natsu felt the smooth, pale skin of his arm.

Lucy flexed her tanned, calloused hand.

Natsu grabbed his boobs.

Lucy slapped his hands away.

They yelled.  
...

When they burst into the guild early in the morning, Lucy had to keep herself from dropping to the floor in pure exhaustion. They had ran the whole way, and Lucy was not good at running at all.

Why did people think she never ran away from a battle? Not only was it because she was brave, but also because she wouldn't have gotten far without collapsing in exertion.

But that wasn't important.

What was important was that she and Natsu had switched bodies overnight.

Waking up to her facing the window was something she was used to. It wasn't an everyday occurrence, but it happened often enough to where she was never concerned. What _did_ have her concerned however, was the small arm wrapped around her waist.

Once again, it happened often enough to where Lucy gave up trying to fight it. Natsu didn't know, but secretly he was a cuddler. More often than not, they would wake up tangled together like some weird game of _Twister,_ and she was okay with that. It wasn't awkward at all, and he was warm. She didn't mind his tendency to throw an arm over her waist in the middle of night, or make her wrap her own arm around his torso. It was comfortable, and it made her feel safe, knowing that he was there to protect her should something happen.

What had her worried was the fact that his arm was smaller. Smaller than she was used to. And she had felt an abundant chest pressed against her back.

Last time she had checked, Natsu wasn't a girl.

When she looked down, she had found herself flat-chested and wearing a scarf.

She had woke Natsu and...well...here they were.

Natsu in Lucy's body and Lucy in Natsu's body.

"We have a serious problem!" she shouted, gaining the attention of the guild, her - now black - eyes scanning the crowd for Levy or Freed. They were both smart and would know how to fix the problem.

Lucy knew it had something to do with the rune stretched across her thigh.

"Good morning Natsu!" came Mira's happy tone from the back.

"Mornin' Mira!" Natsu said, waving his hand. The crowd turned to look at him, wondering why 'Lucy's' voice was deeper than usual. Mira's smile twitched.

"Good morning Lucy," the bartender greeted. "Are you sick?"

"I am not!" Lucy said, stomping her foot. The guild turned to look at her, very uncomfortable by 'Natsu's' behavior.

"Are you - are you okay Natsu?" Levy piped up uneasily.

"I'm fine. It's Lucy that being all weird," the blonde said, pointing his thumb towards the pink-haired man - or himself if he wanted to be technical.

It was safe to say the guild was thoroughly confused.  
...

"I see," Erza said, crossing her armored arms as she looked Lucy - or Natsu in this case - up and down. "So you two switched bodies. Currently, I am staring at Natsu in Lucy's body?"

"That's right!" Natsu said. At the moment, he and Lucy were sitting side-by-side at a table as Levy inspected the rune on his thigh.

Lucy watched as Levy twisted and turned the leg on _her_ body. To say she was uncomfortable was a gross understatement.

She was downright creeped out.

She liked seeing herself in a mirror, she liked seeing her reflection on a clean window. She didn't mind that because it was _her_ in her _own_ body. Seeing herself from the outside, and in someone else's body, made a nasty feeling creep into her chest.

She didn't like...being someone else. She didn't like someone else being _her._

"This is so weird," Lucy heard Gray mutter. "Ash ass is really Lucy right now?"

"You got a problem with that?" Natsu yelled, scowling at Gray. Lucy had to keep herself from chuckling at the disgusted look on the ice-mage's face.

"Of course I have a problem with it! You're in Lucy's body! That's disgusting!"

"Fight me!"

"Don't you dare!" Lucy said, glaring at Natsu and crossing her arms. Even that small action felt weird. She didn't have to worry about pressing her arms against the breasts she used to have, and her shoulders felt wider. The muscles underneath her skin flexed, and idly she thought that Natsu was really toned. "You're not going to fight _anyone_ in _my_ body. Especially not Gray! And close my legs!"

Natsu sulked and clenched his thighs shut for all of two seconds before letting them fall open again.

"How are you feeling Lucy?" Mira asked, coming to stand beside the pink-haired man - woman - whatever. "You seem to be taking this in stride so far."

Lucy sighed, crossing her legs. It felt uncomfortable, so she uncrossed them. "To be honest, I'm really creeped out by this."

"Why? This happened before," Natsu said, propping the leg with the rune on a chair per Levy's instructions.

"Yeah, but I was switched with Gray that time."

"So?"

"He didn't grope me first chance he got." The guild snickered.

"But he tried to take your clothes off!" Natsu protested.

"Habit," Gray threw in, making the blonde woman - man - _whatever,_ glare at him.

"Freed, come take a look at this," Levy said, cutting the conversation short. Immediately, everyone snapped to attention, looking at the solid script mage. Freed walked over and dropped into a crouch beside Natsu's thigh. "Do you recognize this rune?"

He leaned in closer, and Lucy heard Natsu growl. Whether it was because he was getting too close to Natsu's thigh, or because it was he was getting too close to 'Lucy's' thigh, Lucy didn't know. She didn't think too hard on it though, instead choosing to listen to Freed mutter to himself.

"This technique, I've seen it used before. It's meant to switch the bodies of those who have the rune-"

"No shit," Natsu grumbled.

"But it only works if there is more than one person."

"So that means that Lucy should have a rune on her somewhere?" Gray asked, and Lucy immediately started looking on Natsu's body for any signs of a rune.

She ran her hands over her arms, ankles, blushed heavily when she looked in her pants to check his legs - cat print boxers, weird - and removed his jacket to check his chest.

She felt cold metal on her back. "It's here," Erza said from behind her. The redhead poked one shoulder blade, and then the other. "Right in between the shoulder blades."

Freed made his way to inspect the rune on Natsu's body as Lucy turned to face Natsu - herself - _what-the-hell-ever._ "You didn't feel it?" she asked him.

Natsu shook his head. "Felt nothin'."

"Happy didn't see it when you went home to shower?"

"He was knocked out by the time I got my clothes."

"Happy went with you on the mission right? Surely he saw the mage cast the curse?" Erza suggested. Lucy shook her head.

"He stayed at the clients place when they brought out fish. Stupid cat," she muttered. He would've been a crucial witness if he hadn't had a weakness for salmon.

"Consider yourself lucky," Freed said from behind her. Natsu growled again, and whether it was because he was too close to his body, or because he was too close to _Lucy_ in his body, Lucy didn't know.

And once again, she didn't ponder it.

"Why?" Lucy asked the rune mage, leaning forward when he gently nudged her back.

"If Happy had been in the vicinity, he'd have been affected as well." Freed pulled her arms out to the side. "It'd be more convoluted. He'd either end up in yours or Natsu's body, Natsu would've ended up in Happy's or your body, and you would've been in his or Happy's."

Lucy shuddered at the thought of the Exceed ending up in her body. She had seen how 'well' that had went when he had switched with Erza.

"Question," she heard Gray say from somewhere behind her. "How come Lucy isn't drooling fire like she did with me?"

Why did he have to say it like _that_ , Lucy thought with a pout. He made her sound disgusting.

"My guess is because she has gotten stronger," Levy said, motioning for Natsu to put his leg down as she pulled out a book for seemingly nowhere. "Lu-chan, when you fight, you have to manage your magic, right? To be able to call out two spirits, you need to balance out your magic power between them both, and have enough to leave them out for a while, _and_ still have enough energy to fight, right?"

"Yeah..." Lucy said.

"She may be unconsciously containing her magic in Natsu's body." The bluenette flipped a few pages in the large text, her eyes skimming over the words. "Without focusing, she's trying to keep her magic reserved and low, therefore lowering the magic in Natsu's body enough to where she isn't drooling fire."

"Natsu's probably doing the same thing," Freed continued, moving away from Lucy to stand by Levy and skim the text over her shoulder. "Which explains why he's not glowing or showering sparkles all over the place."

Lucy tilted her head. "That actually makes a little bit of sense."

"I don't really get it, but as long as I'm not blinding myself, it's all good," Natsu said, grinning. It looked weird. Lucy covered his mouth.

Freed and Levy whispered to each other for a few minutes while everyone still tried to process that Lucy and Natsu had managed to switch bodies. They also tried to imagine throwing Happy in the mix, causing a few members to snicker in amusement.

Lucy was not amused.

"Ah!" Levy cried, slamming her finger on a paragraph, which Lucy could only assume was the answer to their problems. "I think I found it!"

"What's it say?" Natsu asked.

"Short version or the long version?"

"Short please?" Lucy pleaded. She just really wanted to get back in her own body.

"Basically, it's irreversible." The celestial mage wailed. "But it can be reversed temporarily! You see, this curse was originally a blessing used for people wanting to become lovers. It forced a man and a woman, a woman and a woman, or a man and a man-"

"Man!" Elfman cried distantly.

"Into a situation that brought them closer," Levy said, blushing lightly as she pulled the book closer to her face. "They switched bodies in order to find out more about each other, and pushed them to act like one another. It made them understand their partner more as a person this way. Aw."

"That's kind of sweet," Lisanna said from somewhere in the guild. She hadn't spoken at all, and Lucy had forgotten that she was even in the guild hall.

"It is. Eventually, the pair would recognize their feelings and fall in love," Mira said dreamily.

"How do you know that's how it ended, Mira-nee?" Mira didn't answer.

"In any case, that's correct," Levy said.

"You said it could be reversed temporarily?" Lucy said, putting everyone back on track. At the question, Levy blushed, and Mira giggled softly.

"T-There is...but you may not like it," the bluenette squeaked.

"It can't be that bad," Natsu chimed with a grin.

"W-Well, this 'blessing' was originally made for lovers, or for people who wanted to become lovers. They could either live as their partner, or they could turn back if they...if they..."

"Levy-chan?"

"You know...kissed..."

And all was silent in Fairy Tail.

* * *

1\. Really shouldn't be starting another story when I'm writing another, but since when did I ever listen to my advice?

2\. Seen a few of these type of stories floating around and wanted to give it a try. Good? Confusing yet?

3\. It'll get funny, I promise.

4\. Cliche'd plot romance? Check.

5\. So note five is when I usually discuss the chapter, but what do I have to discuss other than possible OOCness? To be honest, I haven't written Fairy Tail fanfics in the FT world. Consider this my first attempt. Whenever Nasty-kun is in Lucy's body, I'm still going to refer to him as he. Lucy will still be she, and I'll make it known if they switched back. If it's OOC, please let me know so I can try to fix it.

6\. If it doesn't change, welp, I tried.

7\. It's 1 in the morning. Lee me lone dammit.

8\. "Lee me lone" translates to "Leave me alone" in tired talk.

9\. And it wasn't directed towards you. It was directed towards my brother who's being a little shit.

10\. Drop a review and tell me if I should continue this. Or tell me if you have insomnia. I blame fanfiction.


End file.
